GSIS withholds pensions of 155,000 members

The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has suspended the pension of more than 155,000 members who failed to show “proof of life” during a three-month revalidation period that ended last June 30. Speaking at a forum in Manila, Jesus Clint Aranas, president and general manager of the state-run pension fund, said that only 54 percent of the 338,220 pensioners aged 79 years and younger appeared during the Annual Pensioners Information Revalidation. “Only 182,891 of them appeared during the revalidation period,” he said. The program required all GSIS old-age and survivorship pensioners to appear personally at any GSIS office or use the GSIS Wireless Automated Processing System to activate their status and ensure the continuous receipt of their pension.—